"Oh! take me, monsieur! Take me, I beg you! It isn't my fault, but I can't stand it any longer! I won't speak to her, monsieur; I won't speak to her, that I swear to you; but if I can see her for a moment, just a moment; if I can know that she is still there in the place where I used to see her, then I will come right away, I will come back calmer and more at peace, and I will work even better than ever, for my head will not be in a whirl as it is now." "Rise, my poor boy! At all events, you are honest now, and I prefer that. What is the use of disguising what you feel? Moreover, my poor boy, you do not yet possess the art of dissembling; stay as you are; it is more rare, but it is much better. Well, as you can't live without seeing her, you may go to Paris with me." "Oh! how kind you are, monsieur!" "But be careful! be prudent! remember the past! Ah! if twenty years had passed since you had seen the object of your love, I should have less fear for you; but after only a fortnight, it's very dangerous!" "I won't speak to her, monsieur; I swear to you that I won't!" "Very good. Go and get ready, and tell Pongo that I am taking you in his place, that he need not go to Paris." Georget, drunken with joy, ran like a mad man through the gardens; he longed to tell everybody that he was going to Paris. He told the gardener, who was watering his vegetables; he shouted it at his mother, who was working in front of the house, and who thought that she must have heard wrong; but when she attempted to ask her son for a word of explanation, he was already far away. He hastened up to his room to dress; he finished his toilet in a moment; then he started out to find Pongo, whom he found still brushing and beating _flonflon_; he tried to take possession of the coat, which the mulatto refused to give him. "Let me have it, Pongo! let me have it!" said Georget; "you are not going to Paris, I am going to take your place. Give me the coat, I am going to take it to monsieur; it is beaten enough." "What! what you say, Monsieur Georget,--me no go to Paris? Oh! you joking! you make fun of me!" "I tell you, Pongo, that your master himself just told me that he would take me in your place; you can stay here with Carabi, that ought to please you." "Me no believe you! Let _flonflon_ alone." "But I want to carry the coat to monsieur, as he is ready to go." "You no touch _flonflon_! Me carry him to master alone, no need you." "Then take it at once----" "You won't give orders to Pongo. Let _flonflon_ alone!" "Ah! you tire me!" and Georget, in his impatience to be gone, leaped upon the coat which the mulatto held by one sleeve; each insisted upon the other's letting go, and as neither of them would give way and as they continued to pull, the subject of the dispute fell upon the gravel, deprived of both sleeves, which remained in the hands of the two disputants for the honor of carrying that garment to their master.